ATT U-Verse major limitations

We just subscribed to AT&T U-Verse two weeks ago. This report comes to you 2-1/2 years after your disappointing experience. We too have multiple daily tv viewers. We all record in SD so that we don't run out of space. It looks like space will not be an issue. However, we also did not understand the limitations of this system when we signed on. Does four streams mean, only four things can go on at any one time? If so, why are we renting 7 boxes? We have six adults living here and they all want to record and watch television. Now we're told that we can piggyback onto another tv watching live tv or watch something that is recording. How do you find out what is recording or what someone else is watching if AT&T only lets you choose from watching a recording or interrupting another tv? We don't know who we're interrupting. It's causing mass confusion and anger around here. I would like for someone to clearly explain what the magic combination is. Can we have two SD recordings, watch live television on two sets and watch recordings in other rooms? We don't know. When we call tech support, they don't seem to know anything other than the fact that they only provide four live steams to each residence. This has been repeated to us more than once, but they don't explain what that means. Why can't we watch recorded shows everywhere at the same time if we have a "whole home dvr"? If shows are recorded on a hard drive, we should be able to view them anywhere, anytime, but that's just not the case. When the representative came here, he clearly knew that we had 7 televisions and 6 adults. It shouldn't have been hard for him to see that we were going to run into trouble right away, since he should understand the limitations of the system he was selling us. AT&T should tell people who have more than three televisions and who want to record shows that they are going to have conflicts. It's madness around here. I blame myself because I ordered AT&T U-Verse because of recommendations from family and friends and the fact that it would be cheaper. I did not however do my homework. Our situation is not the same as the typical household. We should have stayed with Cox even though they have gotten outrageous in price. We could only afford to have two dvrs and one box in our house, which meant we had to share tvs and coordinate in order to watch the show everyone records. I never dreamed that AT&T would cause more problems than they solved for us. Often, two or more family members can't watch tv from 7:00 pm to midnight. That's when we are all home! I hate to switch back to Cox, but at least we could watch tv in every room, even if it wasn't recorded shows or we didn't have access to expanded cable because there was no box. At least everyone could watch television. I called AT&T to ask if we could expand our package to include more streams, and I was told no. It's amazing this enormous company hasn't figured out how to provide customers with services that fit individual needs.

Re: ATT U-Verse major limitations

I will be counting the days until my 30 days is up. Obviously the problem is more rampant than I imagined. Dish and Direct TV both have better systems. I'm just a little wary about going back to a system where my picture goes out when a storm approaches. Luckily I live in Texas where that doesn't happen too often.

If you are truly that unhappy, why wait for the 30 days to be up?

I've had Dish and Direct in the past and wouldn't go back to either one if they were the only two providers left.

We may not have that many storms in Texas, but when we do, they are usually doozies and I'd just as soon have my satellite go out.

” Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports … all others are games.”- Ernest Hemingway

Re: ATT U-Verse major limitations

Lots of other irritants with the U-Verse system beyond the recording and viewing limitations, some minor & some major:

1) Can't restrict viewing times on STB's

2) No granulaity on setting ratings restrictions. (Allow PG movies, but block PG with D,S or L - same goes with TV.)

Are there other TV providers who provide the ability to do #1 and #2?

Yes, DirecTV on #1. I believe they also support granular restricitons in #2 although my memory is a little weak.

As for #2, there are even TV's with built-in granularity of types of content within a rating that you can restrict but I believe those restrictions are only enforced on the built-in tuner. (I know they don't have any effect on the cisco wireless STB's.)

Re: ATT U-Verse major limitations

@aviewer wrote:Coopster - It is difficult to find out all the limitations. I can only give you a pointer on your items 3 &4.

You are using the regular menu for favorites??

You can use the enter button to improve efficiency, somewhat.

You can use number entry to get to a channel. Enter - OK adds channel to favorites.

Enter - down arrow - OK brings up favorites guide.

Thanks, aviewer. I'm going to try and use your pointers.

I guess part of my problem is the adjustment from multiple guide options on DirecTV. I'm learning that hiding the channels to eliminate the "never watched" channels and then narrowing down further with Favorites is probably the closest I'll get to what we're used to.

(Enter - OK) for adding to Favorites and (Enter - down arrow - OK) for favorites menu.... thanks for those... they'll help. I just wish there was a way to get around having to push two buttons to make a change and move on any of the list settings screens.

Since you mentioned using the number entry to get to a channel, when working in one of the channel lists it would be extremely helpful if we could use hte number entry there to jump to a desired channel. For instance, I was interrupted while hiding channels on one receiver when I was right at the 800 movie channels. When I went back, I couldn't easily jump to the 800's to continue... it was holding down Channel/Page Down forever.

Re: ATT U-Verse major limitations

aviewer - with the exception of having U300 instead of U450, I'm like oufanindalls in that I use Hide to get rid of shopping, religious and foreign language channels I will never watch.

I've then used Favorites to maintain a small, easy-to-scroll-through list of the moslty HD channels we watch most often, still leaving me the option of using the full guide for those times when there's "nothing" one of our usual channels.

(I guess this is another advantage of DirecTV over UVerse in that you can have I believe four different guides/lists on DTV: All channels, channels you get, and two custom lists. There's also the quick-list where you can hit the down button on the remote to bring up a 3x3 grid of 9 easy-to-select super favorite channels.)

Just got a message that popped up here in 78109 Converse at 3am this morning that asked if I wanted to restart my box for the update.Funny thing is .. I have been able to record 4 HD shows at once for a few weeks now.

Re: ATT U-Verse major limitations

No, recording 4 HD channels at the same time has never been possible, The poster in the message you mentioned is stating incorrect information. The Ingress Profile controls how many and the types of channels that can be recorded at the same time. The Ingress Profile of 1 SD/3 HD only allows for 3 HD channels to be recorded at the same time.

Re: ATT U-Verse major limitations

texasguy, can you please explain what 'wan', 'ingress' and 'egress' mean?

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Re: ATT U-Verse major limitations

Sure! Assuming one has the 4 HD profile, here is what the profiles mean and what one can do:

WAN Profile (Streams into your gateway): You can watch up to 4 different live channels at the same time. All 4 can be on HD channels.

Ingress Profile (Streams into the DVR): You can record 4 programs at the same time. Up to 3 of the 4 programs can be on HD channels.

Egress Profile (Streams out of the DVR): You can watch 3 recorded programs at the same time on TV's connected to non-DVR receivers. All 3 can be recordings from HD channels. At the same time, you can also watch a recorded program on the TV connected to the DVR.

Re: ATT U-Verse major limitations

Sure! Assuming one has the 4 HD profile, here is what the profiles mean and what one can do:

WAN Profile (Streams into your gateway): You can watch up to 4 different live channels at the same time. All 4 can be on HD channels.

Ingress Profile (Streams into the DVR): You can record 4 programs at the same time. Up to 3 of the 4 programs can be on HD channels.

Egress Profile (Streams out of the DVR): You can watch 3 recorded programs at the same time on TV's connected to non-DVR receivers. All 3 can be recordings from HD channels. At the same time, you can also watch a recorded program on the TV connected to the DVR.

The profile tells the tale!

Award for Community Excellence 2019 Achiever**The views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

Re: ATT U-Verse major limitations

Thanks TexasGuy et al. I sure hope that AT&T techs and installers are reading this because in my experience, they have no idea what the profiles mean.

....and for that, you get a "kudo"!

Award for Community Excellence 2019 Achiever**The views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.